


Nearly

by Enina



Category: The Flash (Comics), The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Everything Went To Shit, Forced Relationship, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Just a ficlet, Kinda, M/M, Mpreg, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, pretty much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 07:48:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15262755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enina/pseuds/Enina
Summary: Eobard rules the world. Barry suffers for it.





	Nearly

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little snippet from a much larger idea, something that has been in my head for a long while but I likely won't be able to get around to write it due to a lack of time. I still hope you guys like it.
> 
> It is not betaed, so excuse any errors you may come across, English is not my first language.

* * *

“You look tired,” Len remarks, sounding very much tired himself.

“I’m fine.” Barry keeps his attention on the flowers in front of him, careful not to damage their roots as he frees them from the ground. They are growing nicely, just as he hoped they would, but their current spot would undoubtedly become dangerous for them due to the increasing heat of Summer. A little more shadow will do them a lot of good.

Len doesn’t say anything for awhile, he keeps just watching him, and Barry thinks about sending him away, but the notion is only fleeting. He doesn’t want Len to leave his side. He never does, but especially not today.

Barry reaches up to wipe away the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand and wonders where Lisa and the others are. Eobard did say he wants them to be there, just in case.

Pushing that thought away, Barry keeps his eyes on the flowers in front of him, the yellow and white peddles that look similar to small cups.

Eobard brought their seeds back with him from his trip to India last autumn.

Closing his eyes briefly, Barry ignores the rolling of his stomach, how nervous and uneasy he feels, and wishes once more that this meeting wasn’t happening here, not right now.

“Lord Thawne is going to start welcoming his guests soon,” Len points out, somewhat unnecessarily since Barry can see by the position of the sun above them that it is closing on to midday and nobody who was invited by Eobard would dare to be late, especially for something like today’s occasion.

A tense silence follows, and Barry swallows thickly, feeling slightly ill because of his nerves.

He studies the soft little pedals and can’t help but think how easy it is for them to wither away in a surrounding like theirs.

“I’m not g-going,” Barry says, his voice much quieter and leveled than he would have thought possible due to how nervous he feels.

Len hums. It is not a protest, no, he just acknowledges his decision.

Eobard told him that he didn’t have to attend, he understood that it would be a painful and humiliating experience for him after what happened the last time the people he once considered his friends and family were invited to this palace.

A shiver runs down his spine, despite how hot it has already gotten under the noon sun above them.

Barry shifts slightly, grimacing since his knees and shins cry out in protest due to having been forced to stay in this position for so long. Len steps closer, just in case Barry requires his help, his eyes somber and concerned, like usual.

“I’m fine,” Barry assures him, but even to his own ears, it sounds weak. He is anything but fine, and he can’t even lie to himself about it.

Rearranging his legs so that he is sitting cross-legged, he leans back, supporting himself on his hands as he allows his back muscles to stretch a little. His eight-month belly is big enough by now that it reminds him of a small mountain as he glances down to it. The baby is currently resting, hardly moving at all, which is usually the case around this time of the day, before lunch.

He moves his right hand and lets it come to rest on the bump that can hardly really considered just a bump any longer and feels once more his stomach roll in fear and unease.

“He w-won’t get angry,” Barry says very softly and turns to Len, shooting him a frightened look. “He said i-its okay for me to stay aw-way.”

Len frowns, and Barry picks up once more on how truly exhausted he seems.

"No," Len eventually agrees, giving Barry a tight smile, though he obviously tries to convey some reassurance. "He won't."

Eobard tries to smooth things out between them.

For some reason, he suddenly seems intent on making Barry trust him. Despite everything that happened. Everything that monster has done to him so far.

It is sickening and frightening because they know how to deal with Eobard being an utter psychopath, Barry is familiar with his cruelties, all of them are, but this...

This is new, and nobody knows what to make of it.

When Eobard sits with him at night, after they had dinner, and just insists on spending time with Barry, he seems so bizarrely honest about trying to do better, be better.

Barry takes it quietly, like he always does, prying that Eobard won't end up raping him again that night or hurting him another way.

There is no reason for Eobard's sudden change of heart, and Barry doesn't know what the man expect of him. That he is just to believe him about caring for him suddenly? After all those years? Decades? Centuries?

It is absurd, and it has his teeth on edged.

But there is nothing he can do about it but play along and wait.

Barry studies the flower in his hand absentmindedly.

He reminds the last baby, being stillborn.

A part of him wonders whether Eobard's change could be connected to that, to the loss of a child. Their child.

Barry fights a shudder.

It wasn't the first though.

Barry's hand is still resting against his abdomen, and he wonders whether this one will die as well. It would not be the first one, not by far, but like its stillborn sister, it would be the second one he carried to the end.

He does not know how he feels about it.

"I think it's getting hot out here," Len remarks, pulling Barry out of his own, dark thoughts.

"Yes," Barry agrees, quietly, his eyes still lingering on the flower in his hands. "I will finish with this one, then we can return inside."

Len doesn't protest, he has no place to, not that Barry would not listen to him if he recommended not to stay out here any longer.

Len understands that the palace scares him, right now, though.

Out here, it is safer, away from Eobard, from their guests, the people of his past.

Out here it is just the two of them, and Barry can nearly imagine that he is okay and things are alright.

Nearly.

**Author's Note:**

> This plays in an alternative future, in which Barry was betrayed, Eobard took over the world, and everything went down the drain pretty much.
> 
> This takes place about 120 years after Eobard got what he wanted, things are messed up (human society regressed, technology does no longer work as it once did, time is messed up, so is space, and so on), Barry's life is in shambles, the Rogues are kind of his designed protectors and have now powers, Eobard keeps Barry as a sex-slave/partner/punching bag, Len and Barry started to develop feeling for each other over time but can't act on it... it's all rather complicated. I really love that idea, though, unfortunately, I'll probably have no time to work on it any further than this and maybe other small tidbits here and there.
> 
> I'm a sucker for sad and dark stories, especially when Barry is involved as you probably know if you are familiar with some of my other stories.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys liked it. I'd be happy about you letting me know what you think of it, even though it is a rather short piece.
> 
> Cheers! <3


End file.
